


Christmas Day

by tomorrowsnews



Series: Runaway [4]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-09
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-16 16:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2276466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomorrowsnews/pseuds/tomorrowsnews
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Romeo celebrates Christmas with Henry and his family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Day

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally the second chapter of the other Christmas fic but I decided I wanted it to be its own so yeah.

It was 9:50am on Christmas morning when Romeo woke up, thanks to Henry stepping on his arm.

”Dude, what the hell?” Romeo groaned, rolling over onto his back. Henry crouched down and pulled the blanket off of Romeo, not about to let him go back to sleep. “Not my fault you slept through my alarm. And your alarm,” he said, trying his best to make his bed without stepping on Romeo again,  ”and me stepping over you earlier. Twice. You’re welcome. Now hurry up and get downstairs. The parade’s gonna start soon.” Romeo groaned again. “What parade?” He didn’t want to leave his makeshift bed, let alone the house. “The one on TV. The Disney one?” Henry said, crouching down again to physically pull Romeo onto his feet. “You never got to watch it, did you?” Romeo shook his head. Henry continued, “Holy shit. It’s like a tradition here. I promise it’s not as lame as it sounds.” Romeo didn’t actually think it sounded very lame at all. 

They made their way downstairs. Romeo marveled at how much Christmas stuff there truly was. It had been up since Thanksgiving; he had even assisted Henry’s dad in putting up half of the stuff outside, but it looked like it had multiplied overnight. Which, considering how into this Henry’s parents had gotten, would not have surprised Romeo at all. His dad and sister were already on the loveseat, arguing over which channel the parade was on. Just as Romeo and Henry sat down on the couch, Henry’s mother brought out breakfast for them: everyone got Christmas tree-shaped pancakes. Romeo’s was even drowned in syrup, just how he liked it. Everyone dug in as the parade was starting on the TV. 

A few times throughout, Romeo noticed Henry looking to gauge his reaction. Romeo was loving it. The parade was great, breakfast was even better, and he was surrounded by people who cared about him. Once it ended, Henry’s father got up to clean the dishes and his mother announced they could each pick a present to open. “Better choose carefully,” his sister joked to Romeo, “because it’s gonna be  _hours_  before we get to touch that pile again.” It looked like Henry and his sister were taking this very seriously, but Romeo just grabbed the first present addressed TO: ROMEO. He knew that whatever it was, he’d be happy with it. He waited until the others had their presents too, so they could open them at the same time. Of course, they both waited for Romeo to open his, because they wanted to see his reaction. He rolled his eyes but he didn’t mind. He started tearing at the paper, trying not to look too eager, but he soon gave in. Once he opened the box, his jaw dropped. Henry’s parents had gotten him a bunch of cast albums. Romeo flipped through them. None of them were ones he already had on his computer. He couldn’t believe it. “Wow. Thank you so much, you guys,” he said as Henry’s parents came back into the room.

He got up to hug them, but he remembered something and booked it up the stairs. “Crap. Be right back!” He went into his room—Laurie’s room?—and tried to remember where he put the presents. He checked the closet and the desk, but they weren’t there. He crawled under the bed and found them shoved up against the wall. She must have pushed them out of her way. Romeo grabbed the bundle and hurried back down the stairs. He passed them out, one for each member of his new family. He scratched the back of his neck, standing there kind of awkwardly as they opened them. “Sorry I don’t have more for you guys. I wanted to, since you guys have done so much for me, but y’know.” He looked down at his feet, wishing he could’ve gotten them more for them. More for his siblings. They all reassured him that he didn’t even have to do that much and it was special because it came from him. Henry stood up and gave Romeo a hug. “You gave me the best present possible.” Romeo looked at him a little confused, and Henry grabbed the bow off of the wrapping paper and stuck it on Romeo’s shirt. “I got a little brother for Christmas, dude. How awesome is that?  _And_  it came way early.” Henry’s mother looked like she was near tears. Romeo beat her to the punch, considering he hugged Henry back and was crying into his shoulder. 

After they were all done exchanging gifts, Henry’s mother made everyone go get ready, because company would be showing up early as always. She wasn’t wrong, considering Romeo was hopping down the stairs and putting his pants on when the doorbell rang. He opened the door and introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Romeo. I’m the stray they picked up. Hopefully you’ve heard nothing but good things. Come on inside, it’s cold out!” Henry stared at Romeo the entire time, in total disbelief considering he had said no more than seven words last night at dinner. Romeo continued to greet the rest of Henry’s family accordingly, despite Henry’s best efforts to prevent that. Romeo figured if he could get through the awkward introductions, he could get through anything. Which held true, at least through dinner. 

Romeo spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out what he would say to Henry’s family. He knew they would ask him questions, and he definitely didn’t want to lie to them, but he also didn’t want to bring the dinner conversation down. So he decided his goal would be to talk for as long as possible while not actually answering any questions if their answers would be deemed too personal. When he did answer, he kept it to vague half-truths. “Oh, we didn’t really celebrate Christmas. Not like you guys, at least,” he must have said, with a forced laugh each time, no less than three different times in response to three different people. By the time dinner was over, Romeo was ready for a nap; dodging questions was exhausting. 

Between dinner and exchanging gifts, Romeo and Henry spent most of that time keeping his cousins occupied. They were wild, but Romeo knew how to keep them busy. A couple of the adults mentioned that he was good with kids, and Romeo forced a smile and a “aw, thanks,” trying his best not to think about his siblings at a time like this. Romeo was thankful once most of the adults had turned their attention to Laurie, asking her how married life had been. A couple of them asked where her husband was, and she made a comment about him always being busy, even on Christmas. Romeo very easily picked up that her smile was fake and her answer was purposely vague, but he wasn’t about to point that out when he had been doing the same thing all evening. 

Finally, it was time for presents. Henry reassured Romeo that they had included his name on all the gift tags and the cards. Romeo was grateful that they had even thought of him. Romeo ended up with a lot of cash and gift cards, with some of Henry’s relatives explaining that they didn’t know what to get Romeo and it was just easier for him to spend the money how he wanted, and it was the thought that counted, right? Romeo knew his presence must have been pretty awkward for most of them, so he tried not to get too annoyed. Whether they did it to be nice or because it was polite, it was still more money than Romeo had ever had at any given time. 

About halfway through the various exchanges, Romeo noticed Henry and his father both leave. He was about to follow, but he got held back by an aunt—or was she a cousin—talking to him about how great it must be for Henry’s parents to have another kid in the house, because it sure must’ve felt a little empty for them when Laurie moved out. Romeo muttered his agreement, entirely caught up in where Henry might’ve gone and how dare he leave Romeo to fend for himself in this sea of almost-strangers. It was almost a full ten minutes later than Henry came back, grinning sheepishly. Romeo glared at him, trying to figure out just how to pay him back for leaving him. 

All was forgiven when Henry came up to him, though. “Sorry to abandon you, we realized there was one last thing we forgot to grab for you.” Henry brought the present he had been hiding behind his back—how had Romeo not noticed that? It’s not like Henry was sly—around front and handed it off. Romeo opened it, pulling out a collar. His face said more about his complete lack of understanding than his words possibly could. “Thank you? I don’t really get it, but uh, thanks dude.” A few of Henry’s family members gasped, and he spun Romeo around to see what their attention was focused on. Henry’s mother was holding a puppy in her arms. Romeo’s eyes widened. He looked at Henry, who was grinning ear to ear, to Henry’s father, who nodded his head.

Romeo started walking towards it, stopping to look at Henry’s father again, who reassured him that  _yes, the puppy was for him._ Romeo took it from Henry’s mom’s arms and cradled him close to his chest. “Hey, little guy,” he said, not really sure what else to say. He set the puppy down and put the collar around his neck, letting him roam around. Romeo looked up at Henry and his parents and blinked back tears, and thanked them for what felt like the millionth time. “He’s a rescue,” Henry’s mother said, with a teary smile, “just like you.” Romeo lost it and hugged all three of them, overwhelmed with a sense of belonging for the second time that day. After he had calmed down a little bit, Romeo attempted to express his gratitude. “I’ve never had a real Christmas before. Or any happy holiday, really. I never had pets, either, actually. And you guys have given me all that today. I love you guys,” he said, barely holding back tears again. 

It was a few more hours before everyone finally left. Romeo had fallen asleep on the couch, cuddling his new puppy. He had decided to name it “Trooper,” given that the both of them had seen a lot in their short lives. Henry’s mother cried for what had to be at least the fourth time that day when he said that. Pretty much everyone mentioned how great it was to meet Romeo, and Henry promised him that not a single person was anything less than sincere.

**Author's Note:**

> Aka what I was planning on writing in the first place. That whole first chapter was just backstory that got way too long. Based off of various headcanons including "Romeo is like the world's biggest dog person" and "Romeo is a theatre nerd."


End file.
